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                     Secunia Research 12/10/2010

     - Microsoft Excel Ghost Record Type Parsing Vulnerability -

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Table of Contents

Affected Software....................................................1
Severity.............................................................2
Vendor's Description of Software.....................................3
Description of Vulnerability.........................................4
Solution.............................................................5
Time Table...........................................................6
Credits..............................................................7
References...........................................................8
About Secunia........................................................9
Verification........................................................10

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1) Affected Software 

* Microsoft Excel 2002 SP3

NOTE: Other versions may also be affected.

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2) Severity 

Rating: Highly critical
Impact: System access
Where:  From remote

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3) Vendor's Description of Software 

"Microsoft Office Excel is a powerful tool you can use to create and
format spreadsheets, and analyze and share information to make more 
informed decisions."

Product Link:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/default.aspx

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4) Description of Vulnerability

Secunia Research has discovered a vulnerability in Microsoft Excel, 
which can be exploited by malicious people to potentially compromise 
a user's system.

The vulnerability is caused by missing input validation in a 
conversion routine when parsing a certain record type. This can be 
exploited to corrupt memory outside the bounds of an allocated heap 
buffer via an overly large range specified by two record fields.

Successful exploitation may allow execution of arbitrary code.

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5) Solution 

Apply patches provided by MS10-080.

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6) Time Table 

19/04/2010 - Vendor notified.
19/04/2010 - Vendor response.
27/04/2010 - Vendor provides status update.
25/05/2010 - Vendor provides status update.
30/09/2010 - Vendor provides status update.
12/10/2010 - Public disclosure.

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7) Credits 

Discovered by Carsten Eiram, Secunia Research.

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8) References

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) project has assigned
CVE-2010-3242 for the vulnerability.

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9) About Secunia

Secunia offers vulnerability management solutions to corporate
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relevant to their specific system configuration:

http://secunia.com/advisories/business_solutions/

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10) Verification 

Please verify this advisory by visiting the Secunia website:
http://secunia.com/secunia_research/2010-65/

Complete list of vulnerability reports published by Secunia Research:
http://secunia.com/secunia_research/

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